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Termite Bill Shows a Whole Lot of Eating Was Going On at Elvis' House

In the new book "The Perfect Store: Inside EBay," author Adam Cohen recounts how "a lucky Elvis fan beat out 46 other bidders to pay $811 for the pest control agreement from Elvis' home" on Hillcrest Drive. Wow. Between the termites and Elvis, there must have been a lot of eating going on in that house.

Beverly Beach? Bill Fawcett of Tujunga was perusing the Weather Channel's online page when he noticed an apparent tsunami warning for the Westside (see accompanying).

Last time I saw a tidal forecast for Beverly Hills was when Peter Fonda was surfing down Santa Monica Boulevard in the 1996 disaster flick "Escape From L.A." What with the tidal wave and all, traffic was just a mess that day.

Your columnist feels so naive: Regarding the upside-down pedestrian symbol that graced this page (see photo), a woman named Lilith wrote, "Am I the only one who saw a Playboy bunny?"

No, I heard the same theory from a male caller who wouldn't give his name because "I don't want my wife to know I ever looked at the magazine." Playboy has a magazine?

This sounds like a Beverly Hills item: Elizabeth Gutman spotted a dumpster that seemed to be reserved for the latest in discards only (see photo). It was in Santa Ana. You might have guessed that the name of the eatery is the New Panda.

Tired of having your smogs turned away? I spotted a shop off the San Gabriel River Freeway that says you won't have such a problem (see photo).

Just asking: Reporter Rosalie Fox saw a billboard for the latest "Stuart Little" movie on Short Street in Culver City, which makes sense, but Dave Kase of Palos Verdes Estates wonders how the movie "XXX" can be rated PG-13.

Making L.A. disappear: I mentioned an Eastern newspaper's article about a bill-signing by Gray Davis at the Griffith Park Observatory, which was accompanied by a photo of Davis, bill in hand, near the Golden Gate Bridge.

He said that in the 1991 film "The Doctor," William Hurt and Elizabeth Perkins are on the roof of an office building from which you can "clearly see the downtown Los Angeles skyline (Library Tower, Gas Co. building, etc.).

"Then they walk across the roof and the camera pans around to a shot of the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. I characterized it as one of the greatest long-range lenses in movie history."

You'd better still wear boots: Michael Bird of Calabasas notes that a sign at the entrance to a nearby mountain trail in the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy Parkland says "dogs must be on leash and cleaned up after."

Fine, said Bird, so a hiker then only has to be careful not to step in "cow pies, horse droppings, deer droppings, coyote droppings, sheep droppings, goat droppings, and probably bobcat poop."

miscelLAny: A colleague passed along an ad offering "Satanic Kittens and a momma Devil Cat free to a good servant." Satanic kittens, devilish cats? Aren't they all?

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012 and by e-mail at steve. harvey@latimes.com.